


Sounds Like a Girlfriend

by unknown_knowns



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game), Life Is Strange: Before The Storm (Video Game)
Genre: BC THEY DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS, F/F, LGBTQ Themes, Major BtS E1 spoilers, Steph pov, UPDATE THIS DIDn'T GET JOSSED, ahhhhh, almost certainly will get jossed, gal pals, mostly canon, steph is probably OOC af since we know nothing about her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 05:03:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12051891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknown_knowns/pseuds/unknown_knowns
Summary: Chloe wants to kiss Rachel.And she's ... not sure how to handle that.Maybe someone else knows more about kissing girls.Steph? She's into that.Yeah.





	Sounds Like a Girlfriend

Steph Gingrich exhaled pleasantly on her bed.

She could just close her eyes and relax a little bit before Mikey would come over.

Then they could ---

There was a loud knocking on her door.

She opened her eyes again and blinked uselessly for a few moments.

She quickly pulled out her phone and checked the time.

Too early for Mikey.

She frowned, a little bit.

“Whossit?”

Silence.

“Chloe.”

Steph blinked again.

Really?

What on earth …

It sure sounded like Chloe.

Well.

Steph pushed herself off her bed and made her way to her door.

She carefully opened it, but, not that far.

Chloe was an interesting character.

But Steph wasn’t sure she wanted someone so prone to getting into fights in her room.

“Uh. Chloe?”

It was Chloe, standing outside her door, with her arms crossed, looking distantly away.

Her hair was even more of a mess than usual, and Steph could smell her from here.

At least that shiner she had from being punched yesterday appeared to have healed up.

A bit quickly though?

Maybe Chloe had Fast Healing.

Steph put the thought out of her head with the faintest of smiles.

Chloe slowly looked over to her, and uncrossed her arms.

They fell down to her sides with an exaggerated motion, like her arms were too heavy for her body, and she was barely keeping them.

Her arms just swayed for a little bit afterwards from the motion while she spoke.

“Steph, right?”

Steph nodded carefully.

“Yeah, you picked up your DVD yesterday, though?”

Chloe opened her mouth for a few moments, looked along the hallways to ensure privacy, then shook her head.

“I’m not here about _Blade Runner_.”

Steph raised an eyebrow.

“Then what? I doubt you’re here for ---”

Chloe suddenly got close.

Step blinked, looked up to her, and went quiet.

Chloe’s face cycled between a few expressions before she just settled on a frown.

“I want to talk to you about … girls … and stuff.”

Steph blinked yet again, but slowly caught on to where this was going.

She raised a hand up and smacked at her own forehead gently.

“Oh, yeah, duh, you and Rachel. How could I forget.”

Chloe just gaped her mouth.

Steph looked past Chloe to the hallway herself, then opened her door more fully.

“Well, come in, then.”

Chloe smiled and had the briefest of awkward chuckles.

She walked past Steph to stand in the center of her room, and shoved her hands into her jeans pockets.

Steph’s nose wrinkled again as she closed her door and walked over to her bed.

She sat down pleasantly on the edge.

“So.”

Chloe still wasn’t looking at her, instead favoring to look at all of the posters along Steph’s walls.

“Yeah.”

Chloe exhaled it like a sigh.

Steph frowned, slightly.

“So … what, do you want like … dating advice or ---”

Chloe was quick to snap her head into looking at Step.

“--- We’re not dating. Rachel and I, I mean.”

Steph hummed flatly and crossed her arms.

“Okay. You’re not dating.”

Chloe groaned and looked back away.

“I’m serious.”

Steph exhaled deeply.

Chloe sure was anxious.

Since when did anything ever get to her, like this?

Hell, the girl could bitch down Wells, and little ol’ Rachel was giving her the squeeze?

There was only one explanation.

“You have a crush on her, at least.”

Chloe groaned again and pulled her hands out of her pockets.

She raised them to her head and carefully, but forcefully rubbed at her forehead.

“Yeah, I … I guess.”

It was muffled through her hands.

Step sighed again.

“Take a deep breath and sit down.”

Chloe hesitated, but eventually peeled her hands off of her face and dumbly plodded over to the bed.

She threw herself down onto the bed lazily and slumped forward, with most of her body’s weight leaning off the edge.

She exhaled miserably.

“Done.”

Steph smiled, barely.

Chloe was always so careless in how she moved about the world, like that.

 “So what do you mean you guess? Have you never had a crush before?”

Chloe still kept looking down to Steph’s floor, and linked her hands together loosely.

She shrugged.

“I dunno.”

Steph hummed.

“Eliot?”

Chloe groaned.

“Eliot’s … not like that. We just …”

Chloe looked away even more.

Steph didn’t push her on this, though, and waited patiently.

Eventually, Chloe looked back to Steph, and frowned.

“I didn’t crush on him. Just he was … cute, and convenient, and, like … I needed a boyfriend, so … like … whatever.”

Steph hummed thoughtfully.

“Well obviously I’m going to disagree on you needing a boyfriend.”

Somehow, this curved Chloe’s lips upwards slightly, and she barely exhaled in a soft laugh.

She shook her head and looked back down to Steph’s floor.

“Yeah.”

Quiet.

It was a little awkward, but mostly because Steph never knew Chloe to be so quiet and awkward about … anything, really.

“So what’s crushing like, then?”

Chloe looked back to Steph, and her eyes widened for a second or two.

She cleared her throat.

“I mean. You would know. About that. Crushing on girls. I mean. Right?”

Steph exhaled, amused and oddly endeared to how awkward the whole thing was making Chloe.

“Yes, silly. I mean, it’s like…”

Steph hummed thoughtfully, and brought her own hands together.

She looked off to one of her posters herself.

“Like everything comes back to your crush, somehow. You’ll just be thinking of random stuff when suddenly she’ll pop into your mind.”

Chloe hummed thoughtfully.

Steph then smiled, barely.

“So like an example, you know the DnD game we played? And like the second or third thing you said to us was ‘I used play this with Max?’ Like that. You just relate everything back to your crush, because they become the new center of your universe.”

Chloe exhaled harshly and sat up straight.

She snapped her gaze into looking at Steph, and Steph looked back to her after the movement.

“I didn’t crush on Max.”

Step just smiled softly and shrugged.

“Just gal pals.”

Chloe grunted, and looked forward.

“Something like that.”

Steph just smiled, smiled, smiled.

“Anyway, is it like that with Rachel?”

Chloe went quiet.

She blinked a few times, and her expression became just so soft and slight.

She gaped her mouth barely, and her voice came out delicately.

“I guess. Kinda. Ever since the concert I just … can’t stop thinking about her. About it. About everything. And then she …”

Chloe groaned and raised a hand up to rub at her jawline.

“Yesterday was so fucking crazy. You wouldn’t even believe me if I told you what happened.”

Steph nodded slowly.

“Maybe not. I doubt I would even believe one of your _normal_ nights out. Can’t imagine what a _crazy_ night is for you.”

Chloe scoffed.

Steph just continued to smile.

“So you have a crush on her, then.”

It wasn’t a question.

Chloe sighed.

“Yeah.”

Steph inched a bit closer.

“And so, you’re gay.”

Chloe hummed thoughtfully.

Quiet.

“I don’t know. Not straight, I guess.”

Chloe exhaled loudly.

“Can’t really be straight if I’m thinking about making out with Rachel all of the time.”

Steph giggled, and Chloe smiled oh-so-barely.

“You’d be surprised about what some girls think. But I’m happy for you … I think. Rachel’s really cute and I’m jealous.”

Chloe exhaled in an amused scoff, and smiled more.

“Like I did anything. She just picked me out. Saved me, or something. I didn’t do anything.”

Steph just rolled her eyes.

“That’s crap. Rachel can have anyone she wants. She obviously sees something in you, and it’s something you had to have done to impress her.”

Chloe exhaled deeply, again, and slumped forward.

“Lord only knows what.”

Steph hummed.

She hadn’t ever seen self-doubt in Chloe, at least not like this.

She wondered vaguely how much of the careless badass was an act.

Maybe Chloe was just uniquely vulnerable when it came to her crushes.

Quiet.

“So anyway. You need to make a move on her.”

Chloe laughed slowly, awkwardly.

“Yeah, um, well …”

She looked away, and rubbed at the back of her neck.

“We had an um, fight, I guess, and I just got … scared, or something, and told her that I wanted something more than friends out of her.”

Steph blinked only about a million times.

“After one afternoon? Damn. You move fast.”

Chloe groaned.

“ _I know_. I just … I can’t help it.”

She lowered her hand and looked to Steph’s posters.

“She just had to know. And later on, after we made up, she said she wanted the same … so …”

Steph continued to blink.

“Uhhhh and what am I needed for, again, then? It sounds like you have a girlfriend.”

Chloe went quiet for an unnaturally long time.

“Fuck. It _does_ kind of sound like that.”

Steph giggled.

Chloe blushed.

Quiet.

“I don’t know. I just wanted … confirmation or something, I guess.”

Steph blinked.

“Confirmation?”

Chloe nodded again, but hesitated on continuing.

“That this is like, fine, and junk. All my mother talks about is like friends and boyfriends.”

Steph closed her eyes and exhaled deeply.

“Oh. Parents. Right. Yeah. Um.”

She opened her eyes carefully.

“Well I hope it’s not an issue to them. Rachel is … an amazing girl, I can’t imagine any parents being upset with the quality of her character.”

Chloe grunted.

“I can’t even walk without step-douche yelling at me. I’m sure he’ll find a way.”

Chloe’s tone was suddenly harsh and biting, and it caught Steph totally off-guard.

Steph blinked.

“What?”

Chloe’s mouth gaped, and she groaned, and shook her head.

“Nevermind. It’s nothing. I just … “

Chloe breathed in as deeply as she could and exhaled harshly.

“Has anyone ever treated you weird for kissing girls?”

Steph hummed thoughtfully.

She wasn’t going to push Chloe on that little outburst.

“Other than having confused girls barge into my room to dump their very gay anxieties on me?”

Chloe looked away with a huff.

Steph smiled.

It was fun seeing this insecure side of Chloe.

Is that what Rachel liked?

Maybe Rachel just had a thing for bad girls.

Quiet.

Steph realized she still hadn’t answered the question.

“No. Not really. And anyone who does isn’t worth my time, anyway.”

Chloe made a pleasant sigh, and stood up.

She turned around to face Steph.

“Okay, thanks. I think I needed to hear that … all of this, really.”

But her hands were in her pockets, and she was looking down.

Steph frowned.

That earlier outburst was still bothering her.

“Hey.”

Chloe blinked, and looked up to Steph.

“Whatever this? Step douche? Is? Don’t let him make you feel bad about your relationship with Rachel. He’s an asshole if he can’t see how obviously good she is for you.”

Chloe smiled and closed her eyes.

She was quiet for a few moments.

“You sound just like Rachel.”

Again, her voice came out so gentle, so halting.

Steph smiled, too.

“It sounds like she’s saying the right things, then.”

Chloe smiled wider.

“Yeah.”

Chloe suddenly breathed in harshly and shook her head.

Her voice had its usual strength back.

“Anyway, thanks again, for like, everything, and stuff. Sorry Rachel’s off the table now.”

Steph just smiled pleasantly.

“Woe is me to have yet another hopeless crush.”

Chloe laughed, gently, and started walking away.

She paused at her door, though, and looked back.

“You’re really helpful, though. I’m sure any girl would love to have a girlfriend like you.”

Steph sighed contently and closed her eyes.

“Thanks, Chloe.”

She then grinned a bit, and opened her eyes.

“Never knew you to be a softie.”

Chloe just huffed and looked forward.

“And no one will believe you if you tell them.”

Steph opened her mouth, speechless.

Chloe just left her room.

The door closed quietly.

Damn.


End file.
